Dallas-based Cades Cakes is taking baking in a new direction after “Is It Cake?” on Netflix

Hyper-realistic scenes of knives cutting cakes have become an internet sensation in recent years on Youtube, ICT Tacand instagram.

In March, Netflix took the obsession even further with a series of baking contests titled Is it cake? Hosted by Saturday Night Live cast member Mikey Day the game show spent four weeks on Netflix ten best tv showsand has just been renewed for a second season.

Among the contestants trying to fool the judges with realistic designs for shoes, handbags and fast food items was Dallas baker Samantha Cade, owner of Cade Cakes. Competing on the show led her to take Cades Cakes in a new direction, good news for Dallas dessert lovers.

Cade began combining her sweet tooth with her love of arts and crafts to create realistic cakes in 2015. She’s made “thousands and thousands” of realistic cakes since then, she says, which may seem like exaggerated, but its Instagram account with over 46,000 subscribers and literally – thousands – of cakes proves otherwise.

“Realistic cakes are having a moment now,” Cade says, “but I always thought they were cool.”

One of Cade’s first cakes to take off online was a Mi Cocina Mambo-Taxi. His Dallas roots shine with Eatzi takeaway cups, Pecan Lodge BBQ Trays, Bubba’s Cooks Country Fried Chicken Plattersand Taco Breakfast tacos — in the form of a cake. She has also created football shirts, Barbies, tennis shoes and flamingos, but food cakes have always been her favorites.

In college, as Cade’s cakes grew from a hobby to a business, she dropped out of business school at the University of Texas to attend the International Culinary Center in New York. After graduating and working at Milk Bar (formerly Momofuku Milk Bar) and City Cakes, she developed her own custom cake business, Cades Cakes, in New York City.

In 2020, she started turning sculpted cake scraps into a new product: Cake Guts, which is essentially an adorable layered cupcake in a jar that comes in flavors like Birthday Oreo and Caramel Carrot.

As demand for high-end deliverable treats grew that year, Goldbelly asked if they were interested in selling Cake Guts on their website. The production required a lot of space, however, so it moved Cades Cakes’ headquarters to Dallas last year before heading to Los Angeles to film. Is it cake?

It was during the competition that she had the idea of ​​developing her business. While Cade says she will always love baking realistic cakes, she realized, “I can only do so many. And I have a passion for sheet cakes and dessert brands that other sculpted cake people just don’t care about. So I realized I was a little different on that note.

As soon as she finds space — and everyone is looking for space, she says — Cades Cakes will become a Dallas-based multi-branch dessert shop, selling Cake Guts, sheet cakes and cakes. cookies with simple and customizable online ordering options. She will also continue to take orders for realistic cakes, because “these are great,” she says. “But I don’t think people need it for every birthday. Like, sometimes you just want a cake.

Traditionally, the options are slim when it comes to picking up a cake at the grocery store or calling a bakery and placing an order over the phone the “old fashioned” way. “I think there are so many ways to improve this,” Cade says.

With the new Cades Cakes, orders will be placed online for in-store pickup. Customers can still opt for whatever flavors, colors, toppings, and writing they want, and they’ll taste great too.

“What we’re looking for is – if you just want the simplest option…and you don’t mind spending a bit more, but you don’t want to go crazy with it either,” she says. “Basically, we’re trying to make getting a cake as easy as possible.”

Cade says she chose Dallas as her home base not just because she’s from here, but because it’s a great food city and a much easier place to learn how to run a business than New York. Even though Dallas isn’t as cheap as it once was, Cade is convinced of her brand’s need here. “There really aren’t a lot of bakeries in Dallas, and I don’t think there’s anywhere that’s exactly like us. So I’m very excited about that.

As for his experience on Is it cake?, Cade says he was never on his bucket list to be on TV. She doesn’t even have time to watch TV. But it was a fun challenge, a great experience, and she’s glad she did it.

As she puts it, “I’m kind of saying ‘yes’ to random things and figuring it out.” To all appearances, it works.

Dallas-based customers can fill out a custom cake request form or order desserts from Cades Cakes for delivery or curbside pickup in Deep Ellum at cakeyall.com. The first Cades Cakes outlet will be announced shortly.